May the Wind Be Always Gentle For You
by stingrae90
Summary: We know the Air Temples were attacked. We know there were no survivors, aside from the Avatar, who wasn't there. But for benders who could turn the very air into a weapon - or an escape route - not all died in despair at their murderers' feet.


A/N: Okay, this is very far from my usual preferences. But it was a plot bunny that bit me and wouldn't go away, and I wrote it. And it will have a bearing on my future Avatar stories, so it was kind of not an option to not post this, cause I'd basically be shooting myself in the foot. *shrug*

Before any of you go read, you might want to go read at least chapter 5 of my story Letters From the Past. It can stand on it's own as a story, so no previous knowledge of 'Letters' is needed. You'll get a basic idea of my interpretation of Kuzon, Bumi, and my OC Amihan, an Air Nomad girl who was friends with Aang along with the other two. You can read this without prior knowledge, you just won't understand the majority of what Kuzon thinks and what Amihan tells him, later in the fic. But it's your choice.

And, because no matter how I've tweaked this thing, or my other stories that will incorporate this fic, and still cannot find a natural way of incorporating these bits of information, Amihan was visiting with Kuzon, and is now at the Western Air Temple for a week's worth of training from a friend of her mentor's. Bumi is visiting Kuzon, as well, waiting for Amihan to finish her week of training, since she, and her sky bison, are his ride back to Omashu. During the early part of this fic, Bumi is taking out aggressions on innocent rocks by the shore near Kuzon's family home, just so no one asks me where the heck Bumi was that he appears so nicely at the end of the fic. If you want to know why Bumi and Amihan are visiting Kuzon so close to the Air Nomad genocide, I suggest, once again, Chapter 5 of my fic, 'Letters'.

Now I'll shut up and let you read! Tell me what you guys think afterwards, please.

--

May the Wind be Always Gentle For You

--

Kuzon felt the dread pooling low in his stomach as he watched the wavering speck descend lower and lower, careening wildly from side to side. It grew slowly bigger, and Kuzon knew who it was even as he tried to deny what it meant. His father had discovered something extremely disturbing on his last trip, and Kuzon wanted with all his heart to deny it. But he couldn't. He hadn't been able to then, when his father had sat him and Bumi down and explained gravely what he expected to happen in just a few days time, and he couldn't now. Not with the proof right in front of his eyes.

"Amihan…" His voice choked. Amihan must be using all of her strength just to stay aloft, if she couldn't guide the glider to a straight landing. As Kuzon watched, Amihan briefly brought her glider under control, until a spasm of some sort caused her body to jerk violently and she lost her grip, falling the last ten feet to the ground several yards from Kuzon's frozen form.

Kuzon never remembered reaching Amihan's side. All he remembered was gently turning her scarcely breathing form over, and praying to any spirits that might be listening that she could be saved.

"Amihan, please…tell me it's not…not true…" he choked on his own words as he saw her burned face. Amihan's eyes fluttered, and she moaned in pain. Kuzon tried to shift her to a better position, but nothing seemed to help. The young girl's eyes opened, and reflected fear.

"NO!" She screamed, dragging up enough strength to shove at his arms frantically. Air whipped around the two of them, slapping Kuzon and jeopardizing his balance. He grabbed his friend's arms, praying he wasn't harming her further and shouted right back.

"AMIHAN! It's me! It's Kuzon! Don't you recognize me?"

Her struggles continued for a few moments, until her strength gave out and she settled for glaring at her tormentor. Her gray eyes widened, suddenly, in recognition. A relieved sob broke from her lips and all the tension in her body melted all at once.

"Ku…zon…" Tears welled in her eyes. Kuzon could feel his legs falling asleep from his awkward position, but could hardly care right now.

"Amihan, what…please…they didn't…" He couldn't even ask her to deny what he knew to be true. Not with the wounds so fresh on her body, and the news his father had tried to break to him gently. Kuzon's tears couldn't be held at bay any longer. "I'm so sorry…Amihan, I never…this is so wrong…"

"Not…your fault…" she whispered, drawing one pained breath after another with grim determination. Kuzon shook his head, some of his tears falling free to land on her face.

"I should have seen…I knew they were going to do something stupid…how could the Fire Lord allow this…there has to be a mistake…" His grip on Amihan's arms tightened without his knowledge and Amihan gasped in pain. Kuzon immediately loosened his grip, fresh tears falling from his eyes.

"I'm sorry…I wasn't thinking…I have to get you help, Amihan…I can't let you…you can't…I won't let it…"

He was rambling, but Kuzon didn't want to think about what he'd do if he stopped speaking. Probably loose it completely, break down in a complete mess right there beside his ailing friend. The first person he had ever met that wasn't from the Fire Nation. His first friend outside the Fire Nation. Amihan had been the one to introduce him to Aang, and from there Kuzon had met Bumi. Without Amihan, Kuzon knew his life wouldn't have been so full of laughter and fun and new people and cultures. Much less fulfilling, without all the experiences that had come with having an Air Nomad who didn't see national boundaries as a reason to ignore other cultures and what she might learn from them in his life. He couldn't loose her. Not because he was too blind to see what his own _nation _had meant to do.

"Ku-zon…" Amihan's hand clenched on his tunic, since she lacked the strength to lift her hand to his face. Kuzon blinked tears free of his golden eyes and focused on his friend's face, trying desperately not to see the burns, to see only the face he knew so well.

"Ku-zon, there's no time…I won't…too many wounds…" She had to stop and gasp for breath and Kuzon wondered for the first time if she had been injured inside her body as well as out. How was he supposed to see if she had wounds there too? They could ki-take her from him just as easily as these burns could, but Kuzon would never know about them until too late.

"No, Amihan. No. You can't-"

"Listen!" Her voice briefly gained enough strength to rise above a pained whisper and the momentary stridence in her voice caused the young airbender to clutch spasmodically at Kuzon's tunic as a coughing fit raked her body. Kuzon held her close, terrified that he had harmed her further by not letting her speak when she wanted to.

"I'm sorry, Amihan. I'll listen, I promise…" Tears choked his voice. He couldn't go on. Gray eyes blinked open and focused on his own golden ones.

"Wasn't…your fault…Kuzon. You…you knew to hide…letters. The letters…" Kuzon nodded his understanding at her, since he didn't trust his voice not to break if he opened his mouth. "No way…to stop…wh-what happened…" Amihan's eyes filled with tears but unlike Kuzon, Amihan didn't try to hold them back. She let them fall. "Too…sudden…no time…"

"Sh…shh….Amihan, it's okay. You don't have to…to talk about it." Kuzon choked out, not able to bear to see her in more pain than she already was. "I understand."

Amihan drew as deep a breath as she was able to manage, and Kuzon was alarmed to see that her color was fast receding.

"Promise…promise me…" Kuzon opened his mouth to speak, but Amihan forestalled him with a tightening of her hand on his tunic. He shut his mouth. "Promise, you'll…help Aang…keep letters safe…" Her eyes fluttered. Kuzon felt his heart jump, sure his friend was about to leave him forever. Her eyes opened once again, still pained, but clear, and Kuzon felt his heart settle once more. "Promise…"

"I promise, Amihan. I'll keep the letters safe. I'll help Aang however I can." Amihan's hand clenched on his tunic, and Kuzon fell silent, becoming alarmed again at the lessening of the strength of her grip.

"Promise…too, you'll…don't blame yourself. Couldn't…have known…this would happen…"

Amihan's voice was becoming ragged and Kuzon felt his tears starting up again, despite his resolve to be strong for Amihan.

"…tell Bumi…not his fault, either…" Her eyes fluttered once more and it took her longer to open them again. Kuzon was frozen, his anguished eyes fixed on her face, and desperate for some sign that what he knew was coming would not happen. A small, sad smile spread on her face and the pain left Amihan's gray eyes. Her hand lifted a little bit, and Kuzon quickly grasped it in his own, larger hand, not wanting her to waste any strength.

"Glad…you're my…friend, Ku..zon…tell Bumi…glad…he too…" Her voice trailed off and her eyes slipped closed. Kuzon sat frozen for a moment, before panic and despair took over.

"NO! NO! AMIHAN! AMIHAN! PLEASE, YOU HAVE TO COME BACK! YOU CAN'T LET THEM WIN!"

Kuzon shook his friend's body frantically, not letting go of her hand even as he did so, and his screams died down as his shaking slowed.

"Please…please come back, Amihan…you can't…you can't…die."

--

His father had found him, still cradling Amihan's body close, two hours later. He'd carefully pried his son loose from his friend and coaxed him to stand. Kuzon had been in something approximating a waking coma, seeming unable to respond to anything.

It had been as his father had turned aside to take Amihan's body to a place where it could rest safely until a proper funeral could be arranged that he first responded. He was frantic; he wouldn't let himself be separated from her.

It had finally been his exhaustion that had taken Kuzon from Amihan's side. His body had shut down and forced him into unconsciousness. His father gently and respectfully laid the young girl's body in its temporary resting place, and then tended to his still living son.

--

A week later, two solemn boys stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, as close as they could come to the Eastern Air Temple. A small cairn had been built of solid rock and inside rested the body of a young Airbender girl, slain the week before by the arrogance of one nation. A mixing of symbols was burned deeply into the stone; a small rock, with a flame hovering above it, and swooping lines denoting air hovering around them both.

"I'm sorry we couldn't give you a proper Airbender funeral, Amihan," the lighter-skinned of the two boys said softly, his golden eyes old beyond his years.

"We thought you might like this better, anyway," the other said, his normally grinning face completely serious. "You always said the best things came from the mixing of our nations."

"That we were only at our best when we worked together. That we produced the most beautiful of things when we set aside our differences and saw how much we were really the same," the first boy continued in the same quiet voice.

"So, I guess, this is our compromise for you. You lived your life by those ideas."

"And we'll let you leave this life the same way."

The light-skinned boy stepped to the side, and with his jaw set firmly, assumed a basic Firebending stance. The second boy picked up what appeared at first to be a staff, until he twirled it over itself and purple-colored wings snapped out.

It was a glider.

The boy snapped his wrist, sending Amihan's glider soaring to the sky. The other took two short, furious steps forward, and punched in the same direction, lighting the glider on fire.

Such was the force behind his strike, the glider burned to ash in seconds, and the wind gently carried the ashes away, in the direction of the Eastern Air Temple.

"May the earth we all walk upon welcome you home," Bumi said softly, folding his hands in front of himself and bowing to the cairn.

"May the sun that gives us life light your path," Kuzon said quietly, forming a fist with his left hand and holding it under his stiff right hand, bowing as well.

They turned as one to the ashes they could still see floating on the wind back to the place their friend had called home.

"And may the wind that nurtures us all be always gentle for you," they finished together.


End file.
